Okay, we’ve got more renovations and decorations here at the MBIP World Headquarters, Mach IV. I’m moving slowly with this because I’m always thinking about the big picture and what can go with what and where the pictures will be hung.
This week, I have two new additions to show you and then I’ll show another item that survived and have some photos and text in honor of that.
Ready or not, here we go!
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Three Piece Sectional Unit
I got a three piece sectional for the front room and it fills it up nice.
It’s dark brown and here it is from three different angles. The sofa is the main section and there’s a love seat to the left of it and a giant chair to the right. It came with four pillows.
I’m going to get end tables and lamps for the holes in the sides of the sectional next to the sofa.
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New Stereo System
Here’s a new stereo system I bought for the place. It’s got a record holder in the bottom and it’s done up in an antique style.
It’s got a radio and a compact disc player built in, but that’s just the beginning.
There’s also a turntable and a cassette player off to the side! I’m going to have to go hunting for some cassettes to play in this thing and then party like it’s 1979!
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The 365 Camera
I’m really happy this survived the fire, it’s the camera that I used for the entire year of writing and producing my blog, A Guy Walks Into 365 Bars.
This was a blog that I did when I was living in New York City in 2010 and I decided to go to bars for 365 days in a row and if I missed a night, I’d have to start this booze-fueled journey all over again.
This was blog represents the craziest year of my crazy-ass life and this camera documented the whole thing!
Below are some photos from this camera with highlights and links to posts from this wacky-ass year!
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This was the night it all started for me. Otto’s was a punk rock tiki bar on 14th Street in the East Village. Bands used to play there on Sunday nights, so I thought that would be a good place to go and get pictures and start this year-long adventure. I was really nervous doing this because I knew I’d have to take pictures of strangers and kind of be in the center of this hurricane I was going to start building online.
It went well, but being nervous I drank a lot and learned one lesson right off the bat, don’t drink a lot while you’re working on the post! Save it for when you get home later. Oh well, you live and you learn and I was off and running.
One thing that did happen was I found it kind of uncomfortable talking to strangers, but was amazed that most of them let me take their photo for the blog. That part was easier than I expected. I remember putting this post up and having a real sickening and exciting feeling in my stomach when I hit, “publish.”
Little did I know of what was going to come from all of this!
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I started going to a Sunday night dinner early on in the year and realized that it would give me another layer to write about and that was food in New York.
I didn’t want the blog to just focus on drinking, but more the social aspects of going to a bar, meeting people, bartenders, waitresses and sometimes the food they serve. One thing that was great about the blog was finding new spots around New York like this place.
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Little did I know that walking into this bar would really change the course of this blog and my life somewhat.
While in there I met Simone Weichselbaum who was a writer for the NY Daily News. We got to talking and she was intrigued by my bar blog and she took my card and said she’d pitch the idea to her editor for a possible story in the paper. Well, a few days later...
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Simone got the green light for the story and I met her and a photographer at this classic New York tavern, The White Horse where she observed me doing my bar crawl thing, interviewed me and the photographer took some pictures. I wondered what would happen after the story came out...
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Well on March 10th, 2010, the story came out and here it is online: NY Daily News 365 Bars Story.
Things went absolutely berserk for a while after this came out.
The U.P.I. Wire Service picked up the story and it went all over the world!
I got written up on local New York blogs, out of state blogs, out of the country blogs, did hundreds of radio interviews and things really got wild after all this publicity!
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People always ask me what my favorite bar on the bar crawl was and I always tell them: “The Mars Bar!”
This post was a real lesson in not giving up on a post. I went there and everyone was a little cool towards me and no one would let me take their picture. The Mars Bar daytime regulars were a little leery of newbies, especially ones with a camera that wanted to take pictures of everything and everyone in the bar.
Well, after waiting around and having a few beers and goofing around, the guys at the bar started warming up to me, I drew on a mannequin and soon an Easter Sunday party at The Mars Bar was in full swing! I ended up buying pizza for everyone and this was such a fun day! It was really a highlight of the bar crawl and it taught me to keep on trying even when it looks like a total bust. Lesson learned!
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Day 111—Friday, April 30th, 2010—Club Foot—Chicago, Illinois
I spent a weekend in Chicago and went to some bars there for a couple of days and saw some old friends including, Chloe, "Boris” and Brad and then...
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It was back to New York City!
One thing that was great about doing this blog and the ones that have followed is all the people I’ve met in my travels. I can’t possibly remember all the different people and the places I met them, but it is cool to look back online and see all the different faces and places and try to remember what we talked about.
This stop at Molly’s Pub was memorable because I met the infamous BBC gang there from Baltimore! Gene had gotten a hold of me, told me he had been reading my exploits online and wanted to know if I’d meet up with him, his wife, Smoopy and their friend, Terry.
We met at Molly’s and it was a blast and this was the first of many visits and nights out with the BBC!
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As the year wore on, I was getting completely worn out and just couldn’t wait to finish this whole blog and project.
However I did have some highlights at the end of the year and one was my friend, Biff coming to town to join me on the bar crawl!
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Day 350—Saturday, December 25th, 2010—Last Chance Bar and Grill—Peoria, Illinois
Towards the end of the year I had to go back to Peoria for the Christmas holidays and one challenge was finding a bar that would be open on Christmas day.
Well, my brother found out that a bar called, The Last Chance was open and so we went there on Christmas afternoon to have a few holiday beers and document my 350th bar.
I was supposed to meet someone there who at the time went by the name of, “The Chief,” who was doing a Peoria bar blog called the Peoria Bar Review.
Well, “The Chief” flaked out and didn’t show up but he sent his friend Amber who I was more than happy to meet, because she was really cool and while I had never met this Chief guy at the time, I was sure she was a lot prettier than he was!
I really enjoyed talking with Amber, she was a kindred spirit and I was kind of sad when she left because I figured that like so many other people I met on this year-long bar crawl, she’d be another person that I had a great time with and would never see again.
Well, little did I know back then that I’d be living in Peoria three years later and our paths would cross again and we’ve been really good friends ever since!
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Day 362—Thursday, January 6th, 2010—Jerry’s Bar—Peoria, Illinois
On Thursday, January 6th, I flew back to Peoria to finish this whole madcap adventure and year and I was mentally and physically exhausted. I really felt like my nervous system was about to give out on me, so I decided to take a night and spend it at my parents bar in their basement and Jerry’s Bar was born that evening!
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Day 364—Saturday, January 8th, 2010—Exit 197—Pontiac, Illinois
This was the final road trip of the bar crawl for me!
I went to Pontiac, Illinois and met my friend, “Boris” in his hometown and we went to Exit 197 and really had a great day and I got to meet his mom!
Okay, one more to go...
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Day 365—Sunday, January 9th, 2011—Mike’s Tavern—Peoria, Illinois
This was a really weird day for me! I couldn’t wait to end this whole thing but I did feel a lot of different emotions on this day when I went to Mike’s Tavern with my parents for the final day of the bar crawl.
At this point I was so tired and mentally mixed up, I wasn’t sure who would show up and I even said to my parents before we drove there: “Wouldn’t it be funny if hardly anyone showed up?”
Well, that wasn’t the case and I was overwhelmed by the crowd that was there and the people that continued to show up through the evening. Lots of old friends, new ones and people I had never met before in my life. I was really glad I decided to end this journey at Mike’s Tavern in my hometown of Peoria.
All of this year-long journey was documented on the 365 Camera and I’m glad it survived the fire and will live on here at the new MBIP World Headquarters, Mach IV!
We’ll see you all tomorrow!
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